Babri: Advani charged with criminal conspiracy

Breaking news: The Supreme Court has served a notice to senior BJP leader LK Advani, Shiv Sena boss Bal Thackeray, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi and 21 others citing a conspiracy to raze the Babri Masjid.

This comes after the CBI last month had moved the Supreme Court against the clean chit to senior Advani and other leaders in the Babri mosque demolition case.

Advani and 20 other BJP and Sangh Pavivar leaders had got a reprieve with the Allahabad High Court rejecting a plea to revive criminal cases against them in the case.

The nasty twist in the DMK-Congress tale

Like football coaches who slam referees after their team's poor performance, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has slammed the Election Commission for what they called the 'tight scheduling' of the assembly election, as it gave 'little time to campaign and alliance formation.' 

But on Thursday, it became clear that the problem lay not with the Election Commission, but his own party and his ally, as Congress interlocutor Ghulam Nabi Azad left Chennai without announcing a final number of seats his party would contest for the election slated for April 13. 

Sources privy to the talks said the DMK was willing to give the Congress 57 seats (revised later in the evening to 60). The DMK has made it clear that it is now up to the Congress whose final demand was 62 -- to decide whether to 'take it or leave it.' 

K Anbazhagan, DMK general secretary and Tamil Nadu finance minister, added to the drama with a statement saying the party will convene a high level meeting on March 5 to discuss 'alliances and other election-related issues.'

Sources said this is tantamount to a final word to the Congress that it is up to it to get back to the DMK with an answer. Azad met senior Congress leaders in New Delhi and was supposed to meet party president Sonia Gandhi later in the night. 

CWG scam: CBI files case against Lalli, Dehlvi

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday carried out searches at the residence of suspended Prasar Bharti CEO B S Lalli after registering a case against him and others for alleged irregularities in the award of broadcasting rights of Commonwealth Games [ Images ] reportedly resulting in a loss of Rs 135 crore to the exchequer.

The case was filed against Lalli, Wasim Dehlvi , director of Zoom Communications and others under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code late on Thursday night, official sources said. Besides Lalli's residence, the searches were being carried at the residence of Dehlvi and two more places, the sources said.

The CBI moves comes after information and broadcasting ministry cleared the deck for prosecution of Lalli facing allegations of corruption relating to broadcast rights given to SIS Live. However, sanction for theprosecution of Aruna Sharma, former Doordarshan director general for her role in the matter is yet to be given by the ministry, which said it is examining the reply given by the Madhya Pradesh [ Images] cadre IAS officer.

Soon after getting clearance from the Prime Minister's Office to initiate action against both the officials on the basis of the recommendations of the V K Shunglu committee, the CBI had written to the ministry seeking its nod to go ahead with criminal proceedings against them.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh [ Images ], after receiving the report, had directed that explanations be sought from Lalli and Sharma. Both Lalli and Sharma denied allegations of any wrongdoing.

Sharma was ordered to revert to the state cadre while Lalli was suspended. Zoom Communications had earlier issued a statement and denied all the allegations levelled against the company by the Shunglu Committee. The PM decided to refer the matter to the CBI after considering the Shunglu Committee report and the one given by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar.

"Based on documents made available, the committee has concluded that the actual cost of the contract awarded to SIS Live was at best about Rs 111 crore, thus resulting in a gain of at least Rs 135 crore to the company," the Shunglu report had alleged.

In its report, the committee had fixed the responsibility for providing "undue benefit" to SIS Live and Zoom Communications primarily on Lalli and Sharma and said they cannot be recused from the acts of omission and commission.

The committee had also said that certain actions seem to attract penal provisions under IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, which need to be separately investigated. The PM had also directed the ministry to review the claims made by SIS LIVE, jointly with Prasar Bharati and in consultation with their financial advisers, to ensure that there is no over-payment.

Sonia, PM and the UPA govt have hit a new low

A million thanks to Chief Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas for not resigning before the trend-setting Supreme Court judgment by Justice S H Kapadia, Justice Panicker Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar.

The thinking of judges, as reflected in the ruling, resonates well with the country's current mood to have "accountability' in decisions of governance that matters. If Thomas had resigned before the filing of the case questioning the legality of his appointment, the country would not have got a wonderfully judicious order from the Supreme Court.

Thomas's exit would have ended the matter out of court. But now, for all the future governments, guidelines have been added in the appointment of the CVC. The judgment has gone quite far in improving the entire system of appointing the CVC.

The apex court ordered that Thomas's "impugned appointment" should be "quashed" because it has "no existence in the eye of the law." Although Thomas has been disgraced, the case against him has proved beneficial in straightening the codes of governance on the issue.